The corresponding PCT application was not published in English.
Fittings such as handle means for opening and closing room confining elements, i.e. windows and doors, are often designed as turning means fastened to a window frame or door leaf by fastening devices, such as roses, base plates or the like, for actuation of a corresponding closing mechanism via a driver pin, e.g. a square bar, incorporated in the handle means.
In order to avoid operation by unauthorized persons, various safety devices have been developed, among them snap-button catches and so-called child locks. DE 295 18 723 U1, for example, describes a fitting provided with a slide arranged on the outside of a handle. Said slide has to be moved aside in order that an axial force can be applied to the spring-loaded handle neck which may thus be coupled with a stop sleeve guiding the square bar; the handle can only be turned after engaging therewith.
With other designs the handles may be locked in selected positions, e.g in 90-degree positions. In order to release a handle locked in this way, a corresponding element has to be operated first. But if a handle is not already in a preset angular position, locking is not possible and the handle can be moved even by action from outside, too. Burglary methods are based on this fact.
With turning/tilting fittings provided with a transmission serving for converting a rotary movement into a linear movement of a connecting rod, the locking mechanism can be disabled by drilling a hole through the window frame from outside and shifting the rod using a tool passed through the hole. A window can also be opened if a hole is drilled into the frame from outside at the height of the square bar which can then be attacked by a tool. In either case the square bar can be rotated, and as a result the fitting can be unlocked.
It has been tried to avoid this risk by means of the widely used lockable window handles which cannot be moved when locked. In this case the user has to make sure that the handle is always locked. For this purpose, a key is required in general, which must not be easily accessible to third persons; but the aggravated access to the key impairs the use by authorized persons so that they are often too lazy to lock the window.
Other common disadvantages of the known devices consist moreover in the fact that the design of window handles is somewhat restricted if they are to be provided with safety devices, e.g. of the aforementioned type. Users are also obliged to acutally operate the corresponding elements and at that partly in a direction which is different from the usual mode of operation.
It is an important aim of the invention to overcome these and other disadvantages of the state of the art and to create improved handle means which offer considerable resistance to attacks from outside but which can be easily operated inside the room. In addition to a clear cut structure, cheap production and mounting are aimed at. Another object is to economically achieve greater independence regarding design, use and/or sequences of motions.
This task is solved by a window and/or door fitting for actuating a closing mechanism, comprising handle means including at least one handle whose handle neck is axially but pivotably supported on or in an installation body, which body is adapted to be fastened to a flat support, in particular a room closing element such as a door leaf, window frame or the like, and comprising a polygonal bar engaging into or penetrating the installation body, the polygonal bar being connected for rotation with the handle for actuating of the closing mechanism, wherein according to the claims of the invention a coupling assembly is provided between the handle and the polygonal bar such that a torque transmission is achievable from the handle to the polygonal bar but is blocked from the polygonal bar to the handle. This results in a rotatable handle in the way of a mechanical diode which, depending on the direction of operation, either permits or prevents the usual movement of the handle. Thus safety will be considerably increased in a very simple way. The overall time and costs involved for the structure are small so that the assembly consisting of but few components can be easily manufactured and mounted.
Another embodiment of the invention is based on a fitting by way of a handle, comprising a handle driver which is designed as a slide and is guided linearly within an enclosure, e.g. a housing, an installation body or a groove of a flat supportxe2x80x94in particular a room closing element such as a door leaf, a window frame or the likexe2x80x94, further comprising a driven engaging member that is displaceable within limits in relative to the handle driver, which member includes a driven element arranged at a right angle to the casing or installation body and connected with the handle for actuation of a closing mechanism, and further comprising a coupling assembly arranged between the handle driver and the driven element, which assembly has a coupling element located between push or front faces of the handle driver and by means of which a handle movement may be released or blocked, depending on whether a force is applied to the handle or to the driven element. In accordance with the invention, the claims provide that the coupling element is designed as a drop-in pin which, depending on the position of the handle driver, either slidably engages the enclosure [release position] or enters into a locking depression [blocking position]. It will be seen that this type of construction is not restricted to a rotary operation, but uses generally displaceable and especially linearly movable elements which are functionally connected via a sturdy coupling element that also acts as a locking element.
Although a similar principle has been known from DE 35 20 861 A1, that publication relates to a non-reversing device for espagnolette-type fittings which can be actuated from a lock via a connecting-rod drive. In this design, a leaf spring invariably attached to a connecting-rod section is either moved into a locking position or disengaged from it, and blocking is exclusively based on engagement of one end of the spring on a narrow locking shoulder which may wear out and/orxe2x80x94under a strong momentum on a latch/boltxe2x80x94may be overcome by buckling the basically weak leaf spring. By contrast, the novel coupling assembly includes a drop-in bolt which is movably confined between two drivers but is not rigidly attached to either driver and which, moreover, forms with its body itself a locking element that is laterally displaceable in a gliding/rolling movement and acts through wedge-like self-locking. Even great forces applied to the driven side cannot overcome this blockage due to the massiveness of the drop-in bolt.